‘This is wrong’: Instagram head denounces Russian restriction over new hate speech rule

Russia’s decision to restrict access to Instagram comes a day after the parent company Meta confirmed a temporary easing of rules to allow calls to violence.

The head of Instagram has denounced Russia’s planned move to block access to the social media platform as a “wrong” step as it will affect 80 million users. Moscow’s decision to restrict access to hugely popular Instagram comes a day after the parent company Meta confirmed a temporary easing of rules to allow calls to violence like “death to Russian invaders” on its social media platforms.

Meta has eased its hate speech policy against the backdrop of Russia’s offensive against Ukraine. (Reuters)

“On Monday, Instagram will be blocked in Russia. This decision will cut 80 million in Russia off from one another, and from the rest of the world as ~80% of people in Russia follow an Instagram account outside their country. This is wrong,” Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, wrote of Twitter.

Meta has eased its hate speech policy on the backdrop of Russia’s offensive against Ukraine which has brought deaths and displacement in the war-hit country. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian residents have left the country since the Russian invasion started late last month. The social media giant’s decision to allow calls for violence against Russian forces met with criticism, with the UN sounding alarm that it could spark "hate speech" against Russians.

Meanwhile, in what appeared to be damage control, Meta's global affairs president Nick Clegg clarified that the company’s hate speech policy has been eased for people in Ukraine. The top Meta official said in a statement that the policies are focused on “protecting people's rights to speech as an expression of self-defense in reaction to a military invasion of their country.”

“The fact is, if we applied our standard content policies without any adjustments we would now be removing content from ordinary Ukrainians expressing their resistance and fury at the invading military forces, which would rightly be viewed as unacceptable,” Clegg said, stressing that there is no change in policies as far as Russia's civilians are concerned.

"We will not tolerate Russophobia or any kind of discrimination, harassment or violence towards Russians on our platform," he added.